Basic meaning: The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice.
Trikāya - The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice. Skt त्रिकाय Tib སྐུ་གསུམ། Ch 三身
Dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt धर्मकाय Tib ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch 法身
Saṃbhogakāya - The physical form of a buddha which resides in a pure buddha realm, possesses the marks and tokens of an enlightened being, teaches Mahāyāna teachings to a retinue of Bodhisattvas for eternity. This embodied form of a buddha is the source from which all the forms of emanation originate. Skt संभोगकाय Tib ལོངས་སྐུ།;ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས་སྐུ། Ch 報身
Nirmāṇakāya - An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms. Skt निर्माणकाय Tib སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་ Ch 化身
Nirmāṇakāya - An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms. Skt निर्माणकाय Tib སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་ Ch 化身
Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch 大乘
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